“IT IS CONTEMPLATED TO AMALGAMATE”

1881-1891

Extending the elevated system

The elevated railways of Manhattan were not yet completed when
extensions beyond the Harlem River were proposed. At first it
was real estate developers and other civic boosters who wanted to
‘improve’ the countryside out to the city limits, namely
the Bronx River and the Yonkers line. But it was also railway
capitalists who began to take interest: the New York City and
Northern with its route to Westchester and Putnam Counties, and then
some with larger plans.

Unlike dreamers who just draw more lines on a map the Manhattan
Railway directors realized that their elevated railway service was
nearing its natural limit. From South Ferry the trains took 45
minutes to reach 129th St on the east side and 155th St on the west
side. There were only two main tracks on each route and they
were so clogged with local trains that faster trains could not be
scheduled between them.

One strategy was to take advantage of the somewhat redundant Second
Ave El to act as third and fourth express tracks for the Third Ave El.
As opened the Second Ave El had only three stations north of 65th
St. More stations were added over the next two years, but they
were substandard wooden structures, giving the impression that they
would be removed when routes north of the Harlem River opened and
began feeding longer-distance riders into the el. But this plan
was not carried out.

The plan adopted was to add a third track for express trains in the
peak direction only. Third track was not authorized in the
franchises although incidental turnouts and switches were
allowed. Possibly for this reason company officials rarely
commented on continuous third track, and added it gradually in short
sections. But the Metropolitan routes on the Upper West Side and
Second Ave were certainly built with capacity for third track, and so
was the new Ninth Ave El. On the Third Ave El and the similar
structure on the Upper West Side (59th St to 83rd St), the space
between the tracks with the graceful iron arch may have also
been a provision for third track, although a more expensive one,
because to build it the cross beams all had to be replaced.
Third track was not officially sanctioned until the twentieth century
and until then the company made do with short segments of passing
track to provide fairly tedious connecting service for local railways
north of the Harlem.

In comparing the elevated system to the underground railway proposals
one should consider the difficulty of adding track to completed
structures— or perhaps what must be considered is the difficulty
of hiding built-in provision for more tracks.

The Rapid Transit Commission of 1881

The last Rapid Transit Commission that produced lasting results was
that appointed in June 1881.1 Residents of the
Annexed District had complained that the routes laid out by the
previous Rapid Transit Commission went in a hap-hazard way
through fields, farms, woods, ‘across country’, and
everywhere except where it will be of benefit to the
people.2 That is, they wanted an elevated
railway in Third Ave, the plan that had been rejected.

The proposed route was from the end of Third Ave, along 129th St to
the end of Second Ave, across the Harlem River, north in Lincoln Ave
to its junction with Third Ave at 138th St, up Third Ave to Fordham,
and through grounds of St John’s College (later called Fordham
University) and Bronx Park to the Bronx River, there to meet a rapid
transit railway proposed for the City of Mount Vernon. José
Navarro had expressed interest in building this route in connection
with the Metropolitan Elevated.3 The first part of
the route, 129th St and a bridge at Second Ave, was also part of the
New York Elevated franchise granted in 1875 as a connection to the New
Haven’s Harlem River terminal, and New York Elevated owned
property at the end of Second Ave.4 The Rapid Transit
Commission approved the route on August 23.5

The type of construction was to be elevated railway as far as Fordham,
with columns in the roadway outside the streetcar tracks. The
rest was to be on ground level.6 The commissioners
called for the organization of the New York, Fordham and Bronx
Railway, and announced the sale of stock as of October 22. It
was said that trains would run through from the Second Ave
El.7

[ 20-1 ]

Stock offering, from the Times, October 21, 1881.

The Metropolitan Elevated people were not prepared to undertake the
project at this time, and the stock did not sell. The Rapid
Transit Commission waited.

The West Side and Yonkers Railway

The first northern rapid transit route to be built was part of the
West Side and Yonkers Railway. The route had been granted in
July 1879 from the 155th St elevated terminal to the city line, and
continued to Getty Square by a grant from a Rapid Transit Commission
in Yonkers in June 1880.

The middle portion from High Bridge to Van Cortlandt coincided with an
abandoned railway project called the New York, Boston and
Montreal. Its owners reorganized as the New York, Westchester
and Putnam Railway in July 1877, but only to hold the property.
They then organized the New York City and Northern Rail-road on March
1, 1878, to lease the property and make a working railway out of
it.8 This was during the time that the elevated
railways had finally resolved the great lawsuits and were
building. Under any of its incarnations this railway was to be
competitive with the New York Central and New Haven lines, so it
needed to find its own way downtown. The N Y B & M had taken
an interest in the Gilbert Elevated in 1873, and most people now
assumed that some deal with the Metropolitan Elevated had been made or
would be made.

The New York City and Northern took a mortgage of $1,800,000 in July
1878 to raise funds for construction. Unnamed officials of the N
Y C & N allege that it is contemplated to amalgamate with
one of the elevated roads as soon as possible but officials of
both elevated companies denied it.9 A year later the
Rapid Transit Commission designated the West Side and Yonkers route
starting at 155th St and Eighth Ave, and when the elevated railway
opened to that point in December 1879, some observers predicted
through service in the near future not only to Yonkers but points
beyond.10
Predictably, the N Y C & N leased the West Side and Yonkers on May
1, 1880. On the same date the company executed a mortgage with
the Central Trust Company for $4,000,000.11 All of
the railway was still under construction. The West Side and
Yonkers bridge at 158th St was being built by the same contractors who
had built the later elevated railways and like them it was constructed
with Phœnix columns. An accident report in November
records the fall of two fifty-foot trusses and the death of one
workman.12

[ 20-2 ]

The West Side and Yonkers bridge, later called
Putnam Bridge, from the Phœnix Bridge Company’s Album
of Designs, 1885. It is shown turned about halfway
open. The Manhattan pier is at the right edge of the image and
the mainland pier is visible under the bridge. From the far pier
the railway can be seen curving sharply to the left.

The New York City and Northern was finally opened for a test trip on
December 3, 1880, over the entire length from High Bridge to Brewsters
(now Brewster), 52 miles. Among the directors who took the trip
were Metropolitan Elevated directors José F de Navarro and William R
Garrison.13 At the annual company meeting on March 1,
1881, new directors were added including Cornelius K Garrison, and it
was said that the control of the road has been secured by the
New York Loan and Improvement Company.14 On
March 10, the company’s bonds were listed on the New York Stock
Exchange with the remark, This road is intended to be run in
connection with the Metropolitan Elevated Railway, and will be ready
for traffic by about the beginning of next
month.15

Passenger service began on May 1, 1881, from 155th St to Brewster.
Running time was still restricted where long wooden trestles ran over
valleys yet to be filled. The eventual time was planned to be 90
minutes, and another 45 minutes to the Battery by elevated railway, for
which through tickets were sold.16

At 155th St station, Manhattan Railway constructed one additional
track for the N Y C & N on the east side of the structure just
north of the elevated station, and agreed to handle through passengers
and baggage.17 Passengers did not transfer directly
across the platform. After leaving a Manhattan elevated train,
they walked north along the platform with the Manhattan track on their
left, and down a few steps to a rail-height platform, where they found
the connecting N Y C & N train on their right.

There was nothing distinctive about the portion built under the West
Side and Yonkers rapid transit franchise. The Manhattan Railway
might have provided true rapid transit service over the W S & Y to
High Bridge, where the companies could have built a small but
perfectly adequate joint terminal. Instead the N Y C & N had
to use a makeshift single track at 155th St. During the summer
of 1881 there were ‘High Bridge Specials’ shuttling from
155th St to High Bridge on an irregular schedule two or three times an
hour every day including Sundays.18

[ 20-3 ]

The New York City and Northern timetable as of August 1881, from the
Travelers’ Official Guide. The frequent High Bridge
service is listed at the bottom. The company offices were
at 71 Broadway, the same building as the Manhattan Railway.

[ 20-4 ]

[ 20-5 ]

An early view from Coogan’s Bluff, looking south at the Harlem
River. The nearest bridge is the West Side and Yonkers Railway,
with a two-car N Y C & N train approaching on the right. To
the right of that and in the foreground is the end of the elevated
railway. 155th St station is just at the right edge of the
image. The next bridge beyond was called Central Bridge or
Macombs Dam Bridge. From a stereo view.

Jay Gould in control of the Manhattan Railway

In 1881 the financier Jay Gould turned his attentions to the Manhattan
elevated railways as a money-making investment and also as a part of a
railway network he was building. In retrospect Gould’s
plans to build a major railway system out of second-rate routes,
failed companies and expensive proposed roads seem impossible, as if
he could not have believed in them himself but was conning other
people into investing. It was already a late date to add a major
new railways in the northeastern states. But while Gould was
never known for plain speaking, he put plenty of his own money into
the projects.

On April 16, Robert M Gallaway was elected president of the Manhattan
Railway, replacing William R Garrison. Gallaway was also
president of the New York City and Northern and the West Side and
Yonkers. At this time rumors were afloat that Russell Sage, a
close associate of Gould, had offered $1,000,000 in cash for
$2,000,000 of Manhattan Railway preferred stock.19

Later in the month, Gallaway asked the city for tax relief because the
Manhattan company was losing money, about $500,000 for the year ended
September 1880 and an expected $200,000 in the current year.
During the first year, built and run only to about
Fifty-ninth-street, they fairly astonished the managers by their large
profits. Then the cost of repairs was trifling, and the portions
of the road operated were the best of the whole lines. During
the year 1879-80, in obedience to the public clamor for an extension
of the lines, they were continued on up to the Harlem River on both
sides of the City. A very short experience proved to us that
increased facilities for the public had been provided in advance of
their needs, and at a large expense to the company. It was
hoped, however, that paying business would come in the succeeding
year. During the third year, 1880-81, we find that these hopes
are not realized : for, while the gross receipts are
gratifyingly large and quite equal to expectations, the expenses have
increased in even greater proportion, leaving the net income much less
than the year before. The price of coal had nearly
doubled, wages had gone up fifteen per cent, and the amount of
maintenance was more than predicted.20

In saying this Gallaway was describing not the balance sheet of the
group of companies but only that of the Manhattan Railway. He
said nothing of the intercorporate payments that guaranteed profits to
the New York Elevated Railroad and the Metropolitan Elevated
Railway. The deficiency resulted mainly from the operation
of the Metropolitan lines, the New York company having a much greater
earning power at that time, recorded the Documentary
History in 1913.21 In the middle of 1880 it was
estimated that the New York Elevated lines earned 14 per cent on
investment and the Metropolitan only 6 per cent.22

The Attorney General appeared at the Supreme Court on May 18 stating
that facts had come to his knowledge which, in his opinion, made
it necessary that action should be commenced forthwith against the
Manhattan Railway Company, a corporation under the laws of this State,
by the people of this State, to procure a judgement dissolving the
corporation and forfeiting corporate rights, and vacating and
annulling the charter and existence of said
corporation.23 After a few steps, this action
led to the appointment of receivers July 15.21
Operation continued for the time being.

At the same time, attorneys representing two bondholders of the two
companies began action to stop the Manhattan from paying dividends to
stockholders of the two companies. The Court of Common Pleas
granted an injunction on July 1 stopping the payments. One of
the bondholders was represented by Jay Gould’s broker’s
attorney, and the other by José F de Navarro’s
broker’s attorney. It was later considered that the
purpose of both suits and the Attorney General’s action was to
lower the price of Manhattan Railway stock.23

Jay Gould owned the World at this time, and in its columns
there appeared many remarks from the editor and from unnamed sources
critical of the Manhattan Railway Company. An editorial remarked
that the Manhattan Railway was a stock which has nothing behind
it but a general potentiality of rickety iron
bridges.24 Another editorial asked, what
can be expected of a company which borrows money, not to repair and
strengthen the structure of a railway which is simply an enormous iron
bridge without piers or buttresses, exposed to an unexampled daily
strain upon its strength, but to pay the stockholders, who really
borrow the money, imaginary dividends out of the money
borrowed?25

On June 17, the World denied the rumor that Gould, Sidney
Dillon, Washington E Connor, and Sage wanted to buy into the
Metropolitan.26 But at the Metropolitan
Elevated’s annual meeting on July 8, their interest was made
plain. Russell Sage was named president, and Gould, Dillon and
Connor were added as directors, although they owned very little stock
in the company. Gould said later that he did so in order
to help extricate it from its difficulties.23
Sylvester H Kneeland, a director not allied with Gould, explained in
court testimony in 1883 that Gould had promised to build it
up and that Gould had discussed with him who the receiver of
the Manhattan should be, that Gould wanted a person who could be
lifted out whenever it became desirable to get rid of him, as
if Gould were making the decision.27

Cyrus Field brought suit to extract the New York Elevated from the
lease agreement. The petition stated that the net earnings of
New York Elevated were more than enough to pay the interest on
its bonds and a 10 per cent dividend on its stock, but that the net
earnings of the Metropolitan Company have been barely enough to pay
its bond interest. Because of the unequal earning power
the effect was that money earned on the New York Elevated lines was
flowing to Metropolitan stockholders. Likewise the Manhattan
Railway was spending New York Elevated earnings to maintain the
Metropolitan structures.28 Field had been outspoken
about New York Elevated not getting its fair share ever since merger
talks had broken down the year before because of Field’s
insistence that New York Elevated shareholders get more per share of
the consolidated company.29

The World continued its campaign. An unnamed broker in
July thought that it seems perfectly ridiculous that the stock
of a corporation which owns no property whatever was still
selling so high. There was reckless
mismanagement. The stocks show weakness, some broker
said, owing to the character of the report that the receivers
are expected to make in about 10 days. Field’s suit
would probably succeed, it was claimed, and the two companies would
take back their roads, leaving the Manhattan with no property and
heavy debt.24

The receiver reported in September that the Manhattan Railway did not
have enough income for its expenses. He remarked pointedly that
on any other railway in the area the fare for just over eight miles,
the distance from Rector St to 125th St, ranged from 15 to 30 cents,
while the elevated charged 10 cents and only 5 cents in commission
hours.25 The report still addressed only the
Manhattan’s financial situation and not the guaranteed payments
to the two owner companies.

On September 29, the receivers asked the court for permission to issue
$1,000,000 in certificates of indebtedness to creditors who had been
owed payments on July 1. The court conducted the hearing in Jay
Gould’s office. Counsel for New York Elevated stated that
Manhattan Railway now owed $2,644,000 and was losing money as it
continued, while New York Elevated’s properties were profitable
separately.30 Cyrus Field insisted that he would
accept no promises to pay, and Russell Sage promised to join with him
to get back the Metropolitan Elevated too.31 Gould
wrote in an affidavit, In my opinion the Manhattan Railway
Company is hopelessly and irretrievably insolvent and the
certificates … will be utterly
worthless.23 The court allowed the
certificates to be issued, but no one bid on them.27

By now the Manhattan’s stock price had dropped enough to suit
Gould, and he and his associates began to buy, but carefully, not
enough to raise the price on any day. Just before closing time
on Saturday, October 8, Gould appeared at the transfer office
loaded down with Manhattan stock. Some was entered in
Gould’s name, but more in the names of his son, his clerks
and other of Gould’s dependents. He had been
buying for at least a week if he had bought every share traded.
Together with the stock owned by Russell Sage and others,
Gould’s group now had majority control of the Manhattan
Railway.23Wall-street was surprised,
reported the
World.32 Gould had bought at
least 70,000 shares below 20, some at 16, and by November 9 Manhattan
Railway sold at 55, a paper profit of about two and a half million
dollars.23

Cyrus Field ostensibly had a change of heart as well and was now seen
visiting Gould’s office on a few occasions. The boards of
directors of the three companies named a joint committee to settle
their differences.33 A deal was quickly made to
provide stock dividends of 6 per cent instead of 10, and to give New
York Elevated guaranteed payments but to pay the Metropolitan
stockholders only from actual profits.34 The
companies entered into the new agreement on October 22, but without a
vote by the Metropolitan’s stockholders. With this, the
court terminated the receivership on October 25.21

On November 9 the stockholders of the Manhattan Railway elected new
officials. Jay Gould was president, former president Robert M
Gallaway became vice president, and the new board of directors
included Russell Sage, Washington E Connor, Sidney Dillon, George J
Gould (son of Jay), Cyrus Field, Edward M Field (son of Cyrus) and
long-term member William R Garrison.23

Some of the Metropolitan stockholders started lawsuits over the
agreement, so many that the Manhattan applied for an injunction
against any more suits until the courts could determine the
cases. A permanent injunction was granted in June 1882 but
vacated in February 1883.21 In 1882, the stockholders
revolted, led by Sylvester H Kneeland. The directors were able
to postpone the annual meeting from July to November, but when the
time came a large group of stockholders arrived in force to cast their
votes personally. Gould, Sage, Dillon, Connor, de Navarro,
Field, all were voted off the board by about 27,000 to 5,000 voting
shares. One of the new directors was Rufus H Gilbert, reinstated
in his old company. Kneeland was the new
president.35 In December 1882, the Metropolitan
company sued the Manhattan and New York Elevated over the agreement of
1881, and finally in April 1884 it was ruled that the agreement was
invalid.21

However the three companies needed each other, and they concluded a
new operating agreement in July 1884, and agreed in August to
merge. It took a few years to put all the ducks in a row.
The Manhattan Railway Company merged the New York Elevated Railroad
Company in February 1890, and the Metropolitan Elevated Railway
Company in May 1894.21

The crossing at Chatham Square

Chatham Square, the great changing-place, where no passenger is
quite sure whether he must sit still or get out, climb over the bridge
and take another train36 : of the
up-town passengers who utilize the Second-avenue line below
Chatham-square only a very small percentage continue the trip on this
line. The remainder, and by far the largest number, leave the
cars at this station, climb the bridge, and resume their up-town trip
on the Third-avenue line.37

This was the situation created in March 1880, when to avoid grade
crossings all Third Ave trains were routed to City Hall and Second Ave
trains to South Ferry.

As early as February 1881 it was proposed that Second Ave trains
should end at Chatham Square, if that was what was necessary for Third
Ave trains to run to South Ferry. Eight months later a company
official said only that the change would be made in good
time,38 which proved to be eight months more.

Finally on June 19, 1882, Second Ave service was cut back to Chatham
Square, and with the assistance of an interlocking system, Third Ave
trains began running alternately to City Hall and South Ferry during
the commission hours. Off-peak, the City Hall branch was worked
by a shuttle that came into the Third Ave station at Chatham Square
and turned in the center tracks to the north. Second Ave service
still ended at 8:00 in the evening, and the City Hall branch at
midnight.39

Second Ave trains stop a few feet from the junction of the up
track in Division-st with that of the up track of the Third-ave
line. The platform where the passengers land is built over the
down track in Division-st and extends along it about 100
feet.39 Service frequency was thus limited to
what could be dispatched from a single track terminal. As each
train left, its inbound engine ran light to a point past the switch
outside the station, and waited to pull out the next set of cars in
turn.

The platform for the Second Avenue passengers and the bridge
connecting with the Chatham Square Station are as yet uncovered by any
roof. On this account occurred the greatest distress among the
women passengers, and the most complete exhaustion of patience and
profanity among the men. During the earlier part of the day the
sun beat down powerfully on the waiters on the platform ; in the
afternoon the rain drenched alike the just and the unjust who were
waiting to go up Second-ave … they were wet with perspiration
or rain as the case happened all the day.39

It was the first day of operation with the interlocking system.
Four switchmen stood watch at the tower overlooking the station
and pulled a bewildering array of levers backward and forward.
With each motion the track switches beneath shot to and fro, a bolt
shot out and back again fastening the rails in place, and signals were
displayed. This new manœuvring on the roadbed did not work
satisfactorily at first, and delays
resulted.40 Nonetheless it provided a degree
of safety not before seen on the elevated railway.

The Third Ave trains carried colored disks and lamps to indicate the
services: white for City Hall, green for South Ferry, and in
rush hours also red for trains ending at Chatham
Square.39 The South Ferry trains ran past the
now-abandoned center platform that had been used by the Second Ave
trains.40

Two months later on September 18, a separate platform was opened for
the City Hall shuttle trains, located on the uptown side in the point
between the City Hall and South Ferry branches, and running for about
200 feet to Worth St. From it passengers will be obliged
to cross a long bridge for trains going up Second or Third
avenue.41 This helped the company more than it
helped passengers. It meant that the interlocking did not need
to be operated when the shuttles were running. The
company’s spin on it was avoiding all possibility of
collision.41 The only known
photograph does not show a bridge from the shuttle platform to the
Third Ave platform, so the bridge must have gone to the abandoned
platform. This meant passengers had to take a minimum of two
footbridges to get to Third Ave trains or to the street, and one more
footbridge for Second Ave trains.

[ 20-6 ]

Chatham Square seen in the mid 1880s. In the right foreground is
a City Hall shuttle train at the new platform opened in September
1882. Behind it is a Third Ave El train running to South Ferry,
passing the abandoned platform formerly used by Second Ave
trains. The new Second Ave platform, not visible here, was
farther back beyond the tower and the footbridge.

[ 20-7 ]

This blurry image seems to show that no footbridge connected the City
Hall shuttle platform to the rest of the station. The photo
however appears to date from 1885, since the train is curving off the
Second Ave El and running to South Ferry. From a stereo view.

The Manhattan Railway proposed the idea of a completely separate
southern terminal for the Second Ave El in 1884. At this time
preparations were being made for the Suburban Rapid Transit route
Bnorth of the Harlem River that would bring passengers to 129th St
and Second Ave. The Rapid Transit Commission appointed in December
1883 designated a route from Division St down Catherine St (one block
east of Chatham Square) to South St and from there along the docks to
South Ferry,42 but this Commission fell apart before they
completed their work, three of the five resigning because of
disagreements.43 By June the Manhattan Railway had
prepared plans calling for a similar route using Market St (a block
east of Catherine St) with stations at Catherine Slip, Roosevelt St,
Peck Slip, Fulton St, Wall St, and South Ferry, all of which were at
ferry terminals. A company director said it would cost about
$600,000.44

The Manhattan Railway called for another Rapid Transit Commission in
1887 and presented plans for the Second Ave El extension to it in
April.45 The route was adopted on May
14,46 but the Manhattan Railway directors objected to
provisions as to taxes and fares.47 When the
Commissioners tried to organize the Connecting Elevated Railway
Company,48 the Manhattan Railway people ignored it and the
plan was dead.

[ 20-8 ]

Elevated railways in lower Manhattan, about
1885. Manhattan Railway in red, and the proposed new southern
end of the Second Ave El in yellow.

Also shown are the Brooklyn Bridge railway in
green (open 1883) and the Brooklyn Elevated Railroad in orange (open
1885). The bridge railway had direct connections to elevated
railways at both ends, but a separate fare was charged.

While this was going on, the interlocking plant at Chatham Square was
upgraded in 1885. In January, City Hall shuttle trains began
running to the main Chatham Square station once again in the midday
hours although not in the evening.49 From April 12,
Second Ave trains once again ran to South Ferry, together with
alternate Third Ave trains.50 This was made possible
by routing enough Third Ave trains to City Hall or the Chatham Square
pockets to open paths for the less frequent Second Ave service.
It still limited the number of trains that could be run on Second
Ave. The Chatham Square problem was not solved until 1914, when
the junction was completely rebuilt with separate pairs of tracks for
each route to City Hall and a flyover for Third Ave trains going to
South Ferry.

[ 20-9 ]

Chatham Square in the 1890s. A Third Ave El train passes the
interlocking tower as it turns into the City Hall Branch. The
City Hall shuttle platform was now gone except for a triangle with
a small building on it.

[ 20-10 ]

Chatham Square, looking south instead of north as in all the previous
views, and giving an excellent view of the footbridge. Route to South
Ferry left, to City Hall right. Second Ave trains stopped at the
platform on the left. Passengers going to South Ferry from here had to
guess which platform had the next train since all Third Ave trains
stopped at the other platform on the right. This is a view from the
Second Ave El series, photographed on April 15, 1902.

Gould and the New York City and Northern

Gould’s plans for a national railway system involved the
Manhattan Railway and the New York City and Northern as the entrance
to Manhattan.

In May 1881, the month the railway opened, the N Y C & N spent
$135,000 for a lot at Ninth Ave and 56th St for a passenger
station and freight depot after failing to acquire other sites
nearby. However upon examining the lot, de Navarro told a
reporter, I was really sorry that we had secured the property,
when I first walked through the street, for I knew at once what the
property-owners would suffer by it … The company will build a
station there, but it is doubtful if it can be completed within a
year.51 It is hard to say what use a single
lot would have as a railway terminal unless it was solely for a
building adjacent to a new side platform on the elevated
railway. Nothing else is known of this plan.

Under the agreement of April 1881 with the N Y C & N, Manhattan
Railway operated baggage trains between 155th St and the station at
Eighth Ave and 53rd St. During the day an engine and
baggage car make frequent trips between this point and the terminus of
the Northern Railroad. The trains changed ends by
dropping the baggage car in the center track at the station and
running the engine around. Since there were only the usual two
side platforms, the baggage was somehow handled there, and fast,
between passenger trains running at least every five minutes.
The baggage was then transferred again at 155th St.52
The baggage station at 53rd St was operated to some date after
1893.

An important segment of Gould’s New York and New England
.Railroad opened from Brewster to Hartford on July 25, 1881.
Riders willing to change at 155th St, Brewster and Hartford could now
ride from South Ferry to Boston on an inland route.53
In September officials of the New York City and Northern and the New
York and New England found it necessary to deny that they would soon
be operated under one management.54

Gallaway announced in December that among the many schemes in
contemplation by the elevated railroad managers is the project of a
new track on the Ninth-avenue road to bring suburban travelers into
the city. The Ninth-avenue structure, it is claimed, was built
with such a purpose in view … The third track will be laid
between the present tracks, the space being sufficient. Trains
will run over it and will be faster than are others, and will stop at
but few of the stations, the main object being to hurry passengers
down to the business centres of the City with all possible
speed … The lower terminus for the fast trains will probably be
Rector-street. Travelers from Boston to this City over Mr
Gould’s New-York and New-England Road, via the New-York and
Northern, will be accommodated with these fast trains.
The route was via Sixth Ave, stopping at Grand St, 53rd St (Eighth
Av), 125th St and 155th St. By Ninth Ave he meant the route
north of 59th St.55

The New York City and Northern was not so important a road as this
might make it sound, and it was not making money. Its winding
path through Westchester and Putnam Counties missed all the larger
villages and forced slow running. The company started borrowing
from the New York Loan and Improvement Company in February 1882, eight
loans in three months, to be paid on demand with interest. When
New York Loan and Improvement requested the $91,934.74 on May 1, the
company could not pay, and following suit, a receiver was appointed on
May 24, 1882.56

A reorganization plan was proposed in May 1883. The old company
had two mortgages outstanding, $4,000,000 to Central Trust and
$2,000,000 to New York Loan and Improvement. These would be
foreclosed and refinanced, in the process bringing in enough to build
the rapid transit line to Getty Square, Yonkers, that had been
authorized in 1879 and 1880. The branch was to be three and a
half miles of which one and a half in Yonkers would be
elevated.57 The plan was not acceptable to all, and
Central Trust sued in September.58 New York Loan and
Improvement challenged Central Trust and opposed
foreclosure.59 And so it went for four years
more. The existing road continued to operate but no progress was
made on the Yonkers Rapid Transit.

The Suburban Rapid Transit and the New York, Fordham and Bronx

While the Commissioners of 1881 waited for the New York, Fordham and
Bronx plan to take life, the Suburban Rapid Transit, granted routes by
the previous commission, began to act. They petitioned to build the
bridge at the head of Second Ave in December 1881. They had to
request it of the Parks Department, which had been given jurisdiction
over the Annexed District. The company agreed to build a
passage for the special convenience of foot
passengers.62 Overruling objections by the
Second Avenue Railroad (the street railway), the Park Commissioners
approved the bridge on March 15, 1882. It was to be an iron
swing drawbridge for two tracks, with a free
footpath.63 It was further approved by the Common
Council in June and by the Board of Docks in April and June
1883. The Suburban then made an exclusive agreement with
Manhattan Railway in April 1883 to connect to their tracks at the head
of Second Ave.64 This secured rights to build the
bridge and the connection. Now things began to happen.

A group of investors formed a New York, Fordham and Bronx Railway
under the Railroad Law, incorporated November 30, 1883, and on June
10, 1884, petitioned the commissioners of June 1881 to build a route
‘coinciding’ with the route that they had laid out.
The company proceeded to get consents of property owners and on July
14, 1885, reported having consent of two-thirds in value of the
property, the legal requirement.60 Finally on
December 8, 1885, the commissioners certified the incorporation of the
rapid transit company of the same name, backdating it as if it had
started November 1, 1881. The owners were business associates of
Jay Gould and Cyrus Field.61 It was during these same
years that the Manhattan Railway improved the Chatham Square
interlocking and sought a separate southern terminal for the Second
Ave El, as if preparing to handle increased ridership.

With the New York, Fordham and Bronx now secure, a few months later in
1886 Suburban Rapid Transit leased and then merged the two New York,
Fordham and Bronx Railway companies, forming a single viable company
to build rapid transit lines in the Annexed District.64

The road as built followed the original Suburban Rapid Transit route
across the river and through private property up to a point near 143rd
St where the Suburban’s Central Route crossed Third Ave.
From there the constructed road ran over Third Ave using the New York,
Fordham and Bronx charter. The first section opened was the
all-important bridge from 129th St and Second Ave to 133rd St, May 17,
1886, and on to 143rd St five days later. A new joint station
was built over the east side of Second Ave at 129th St with the
Manhattan and Suburban trains using opposite sides of the same
platform, but no through service was offered.65

[ 20-11 ]

The joint station at 129th St and Second Ave,
seen about 1895, possibly from the 127th St station. The wooden
platform, known as the ‘whaleback station’ for its
lenticular shape, was used originally by Second Ave and Suburban Rapid
Transit trains. Within a few years the S R T was rerouted to
another station running east-west between Second and Third Ave, and a
footbridge can be seen in the center connecting that platform to the
whaleback platform. Beyond that is a covered coal bridge leading
to the Second Ave El engine terminal on the right.

[ 20-12 ]

The Suburban Rapid Transit right of way at 143rd St, seen in
1885. This was where the main stem divided into two
routes. The constructed route followed the left branch to Third
Ave at 145th St. The derrick in the distance might be erecting
the elevated railway over Third Ave.

[ 20-13 ]

Suburban Rapid Transit station on the right of way, probably 138th St
seen in 1886.

In November 1886, a very short branch was opened running down to the
New Haven’s right of way. At this time the New Haven cut
back its service from the old Harlem River terminal to a new joint
station that became known as Willis Ave. The branch was worked
with a shuttle to 129th St over which New Haven railroad fares were
charged.65

The main line reached 149th St on the elevated over Third Ave on June
16, 1887, and extending one or two stations at a time it reached 169th
St by September 1888.65 The route was ahead of its
time. For 1887, income was $43,000 while operating expenses were
$62,000, and $476,000 was spent for construction and
equipment.66 Topography was against it as well.
At present, although Third-avenue has been declared open to
Fordham, the operations of the road above One Hundred and
Seventieth-street are checked effectually by masses of rock for some
distance above this terminus. Contracts are out for the removal
of the rock and for suitable grading. Until that shall be done
the road cannot be built any further.67

Early in 1891 arrangements were made for Manhattan Railway to buy
Suburban Rapid Transit. Reportedly the Manhattan would exchange
$3,000,000 to $5,000,000 of its stock for the stock and bonds of the
Suburban— pretty good for a company not even bringing in its
operating costs. Jay Gould and Russell Sage were said to have
furnished a large share of the money to build the Suburban
Road, which explained it.68 Manhattan Railway
leased the Suburban on April 1 and merged it on June
30.64

Service was extended to 177th St, Tremont Ave, on July 20, 1891.
After a ten year interval the route reached Fordham Road in 1901 and
the Bronx Park terminal in 1902. Through running to Manhattan
was begun in 1896 and the former Suburban Rapid Transit was fully
integrated into the city transit system.65

[ 20-14 ]

Railways in northern New York, about 1895. The Manhattan Railway
in red, other railways in black. The later extension of the
Manhattan Railway from 177th St to Bronx Park is shown in grey.
Among the railways in black are the New York City and Northern from
155th St, the Jerome Park Railway, and the New Haven’s Harlem
River branch from the joint station at Willis Ave.

The Yonkers Rapid Transit and the Putnam Division

The litigation of the New-York City and Northern, which has
hampered the Yonkers Rapid Transit Company ever since its
organization, has now been settled and an agreement has been completed
by which the latter company yesterday put 100 men to work commencing
to build the road. The people of Yonkers are very jubilant about
this, as they have been waiting patiently for this road for the past
five years.69 This word in May 1887 signalled
that a reorganization plan had finally been agreed upon and that
investors were willing to put enough money into the business to build
this branch into populated territory. The merger of the West
Side and Yonkers into the New York City and Northern on July 16 also
indicated preparations.70 The first mortgage was
finally foreclosed on July 22,8 and the property was sold
on August 17 for $2,000,000.71

The new owners incorporated the similarly-named New York and Northern
Railway on October 11. The next day the new company leased the
Yonkers Rapid Transit, and merged it on November
11.72The essential feature of the new
corporation is the construction of a double-tracked branch railroad
from Van Cortlandt station to Getty-square in the city of
Yonkers … It will furnish to the citizens of Yonkers rapid
transit facilities connected directly with the elevated system at One
Hundred and Fifty-fifth-street.73

The Getty Square branch opened on March 10, 1888.74
Trains operated about every half hour on schedules that allowed only
two to five minutes dwell time on the single track terminal at 155th
St.75 By the standards of the day, this was rapid
transit service. The branch spurred real estate development of a
large property called Park Hill by the American Real Estate Company,
not affiliated with the railway, in the same year.

[ 20-15 ]

Part of the Getty Square branch schedule, 1893. A note mentions also
a local from Yonkers at 8:27 arriving 155th St probably at 8:52. Note
the 155th St times: 5:55 to 6:25, but then 6:52 to 6:55, 7:25 to 7:30,
7:56 to 8:00, and so on.

[ 20-16 ]

High Bridge yard seen in 1904, showing a tank engine and some of
the Yonkers rapid transit cars to its left and right. The two cars in
the foreground were Brewster cars.

Lowerre station came just before the longer of
two sections of elevated railway, from Lawrence St to McLean
Ave. North is at the left in this detail of a panorama view of
Yonkers dated 1899.

[ 20-19 ]

Park Hill station was adjacent to an enclosed funicular built in 1894
that ran to the hilltop at Alta Ave. The station is gone but the
houses at both ends of the incline are still standing as
residences.

[ 20-20 ]

The terminal was originally in an impressive building facing Getty
Square, later replaced by a larger building owned by a bank with the
railway station behind it. The panorama was drawn a few years
earlier than 1899, since the name of the railway was obviously changed
from N Y C & N R R to the 1894 company N Y & P R R.

Unlike the Suburban Rapid Transit, the Getty Square rapid transit
was never integrated into the city transit system. It came close in
January 1893 when J Pierpont Morgan concluded two years of negotiations
and arranged for the Manhattan Railway to take control of the New York
and Northern by acquiring about $3,000,000 of of stock and bonds with in
exchange for Manhattan Railway stock.76

Bearing especially on the new purchase are some of the
propositions made last week by the Manhattan Elevated to the Rapid
Transit Commission. One of these schemes provides for a line which will
enable the Manhattan to continue its present Suburban Railroad, now
running to Tremont [177th St and Third Ave], up to a connection with the
little line crossing Jerome Park, and from that to a near-by connection
with the New-York and Northern tracks. This plan is close to the heart
of some of the most important people in the Manhattan management,
including Mr J Pierpont Morgan.76

According to an analysis in the Times, Gould had been trying
for years to depress the stock price of the New York and
Northern.76 This helps account for the actions of
Gould’s New York and New England in denying freight interchange traffic
at Brewster from 1890 to 1892, when the United States Circuit Court
ordered it restored.77 Gould died on
December 2, 1892, after a brief illness.78

And now the next month, Gould’s heirs and associates finally had
the New York and Northern. The purchase could have easily
resulted in elevated service to Yonkers, but the plan did not go
through. Manhattan Railway had applied to the Board of Rapid
Transit Railroad Commissioners on January 19, 1893, for new routes and
connections, but could not reach an agreement with the board.
The major sticking point was the board’s insistence on a single
fare of five cents all the way to the city line.79
This board was the ‘Steinway Commission’ established in
1891, who proposed a subway in December 1892 but could get no
bidders.80

George J Gould (son of Jay) and Russell Sage vetoed the deal a day
after it was announced, because of the fare issue, because the
prices were regarded as extravagant and because the
extension was too far into the country for an urban road to
undertake. Morgan was the only Manhattan director
strongly in favor of the plan.81 He did not wait but
brought the deal to his fellow board members at the New York Central
and the New Haven, and the New York Central completed a deal with the
New York and Northern security holders by April.82

The New York and Northern, mortgaged and hit hard by the financial
crash of 1893, was sold under foreclosure on December 28, 1893, to
Morgan and others. They incorporated the New York and Putnam
Railroad on January 12, 1894,72 and on January 30 they
leased it to the New York Central and Hudson River Rail Road, thus
bringing it into the national railway network and permanently out of
the city transit system.83

The railway’s role in the national network had reached its peak
on December 5, 1892, when a through overnight Pullman train began
running between 155th St and Boston. It lasted only until May 1,
1893, done in by corporate politics and of course limited
patronage.77 It was the great age of unusual and
short-lived through services. Day travel to Boston by changing
at Brewster continued for a few years longer. But by 1900, the
trains were strictly for local passengers.

[ 20-21 ]

New York and Boston, Pullman Limited. Classified ad from the
Tribune, March 1, 1893. The eight-hour running time
worked well for an overnight train.

The railway was known as the New York Central’s Putnam Division for
the rest of its operating life. The inadequate one-track 155th St
terminal was finally replaced in 1918 by a better terminal called
Sedgwick Ave at the Bronx side of the bridge, when elevated service was
extended across the bridge and beyond to the city-owned Jerome Ave route.
The New York Central laid third rails from Sedgwick Ave to Getty Square
in 1926 and began electric operation, but it was not a convenient
service— why did it not run to Grand Central?— and ran for
only 17 years. The Getty Square branch was abandoned in 1943. The
property was sold off and much of it has since been built on. Passenger
service on the main line ended in 1958.84 Today the main line within Westchester County is a
walking trail.

The death of Rufus H Gilbert

Rufus H Gilbert died on July 10, 1885, in his house on 73rd St near
Riverside Dr. He was an invalid in his last few years. On
Monday July 6, William Batman, a friend who had once been a guard on
the elevated railway, called at his house. Getting no answer, he
entered by the basement door and found Gilbert unconscious in his
bed. Batman called Gilbert’s physician and his uncle, who
was a nurse, and Batman and his uncle were the only ones present when
Gilbert passed away from chronic inflammation of the bowels and
chronic diarrhea— from which he had suffered for several
years— superinduced by neglect. After the death of
his first wife, who had no children, Gilbert had married again, but he
had been separated from the second wife and his two children for about
two years.85

The later career of Charles T Harvey

Charles T Harvey continued to work in transportation for many years
after he was shut out of the West Side Elevated Railroad.

In May 1879 he unexpectedly turned up as apparently the principal
owner of the Metropolitan Transit Company, also known as Swain’s
three-tier road, incorporated in 1872. But he did not stay with this
questionable company.

Harvey incorporated the United States Harveyway Construction Company
in January 1882 for the purpose of constructing and operating
one or more illustrative section railroads involving the use of a
propelling cable attached to stationary power. The
company was incorporated under the Railroad Law of 1850 for the
purpose of building one mile in New York and one mile in Kings County,
route not stated.86 Harvey assigned the company his
patents in 1889, and the name of the company was changed to the
Harveyway Trust and Improvement Company, September
1889.87

A long and peculiar bill was introduced from the subcommittee of
the Senate Railroad Committee, whose provisions are designed to allow
Charles T Harvey to set up what is called an illustrative section of
an elevated railroad in New-York, in April 1885.
The bill, as it is drafted, provides that his illustrative
section shall be a quarter of a mile long, fully provided with tracks,
traction cables, cars, and all the machinery necessary to permit him
to demonstrate the plans by which he hopes to produce a structure
which shall ornament the street and occupy the smallest possible space
upon it. The money to pay for all of this is to be taken out of
the fund created by the payment to the city of a fraction of the
earnings of the present elevated roads. He is to have $50,000 at
once, a similar sum if the commission of experts appointed by the
Governor approves the design, and further appropriations from time to
time as desired. The Senators have a great deal of sympathy with
Mr Harvey, and this is the tangible form it takes. None of them
expect the measure to pass.88

Harvey’s argument was that according to a law of 1868, the
elevated railway was to pay into the city treasury five per cent of
its net income, to be used for experiments. Harvey maintained
that this was at least $5,000 per quarter since that time.
Originally the disposition of the fund was in the hands of a
commission, but that has long ago died, and the money can only be
reached through legislative enactment.89 It
came to a vote in May. A little old man with white hair
sat rubbing his hands as he saw the affirmative votes roll up, and he
nearly fell off his seat when it was announced that the bill had
passed. The aged gentleman was Charles T
Harvey.90 The Assembly passed it too, and the
governor signed it, but the city called it unconstitutional and
refused to give Harvey the money.91 No one mentioned
it, but the law of 1868 was the amendment to the act of 1867 that the
Court of Appeals had considered in 1877, and that they had said seemed
to be invalid, but that they did not rule on solely because it did not
matter in the case at hand.

Harvey pursued the case. The General Term of the Supreme Court
found against him in March 1886,92 and the Court of Appeals
affirmed the decision in June.93

But Harvey did not stop. In 1889 the legislature passed another
bill authorizing Harvey to have the money, now claimed as
$206,611.70.94 In 1891 they passed it
again,95 and again in 1892. The governor vetoed the
bills.96

In 1895 Harvey appeared before the Board of Rapid Transit Railroad
Commissioners and asked that it take action to assist him in
collecting from an unexpended fund with which the former commission
was supplied to use for experiments. It was thought inexpedient
to take any action on the matter at present, and Mr Harvey will be
compelled to wait until the board makes an application to the
Legislature to have the fund transferred to
it.97 This may have been the last time Harvey
sought the money.

In the meantime, he kept busy elsewhere. In 1889, Harvey was
involved with a proposed elevated railway in Jersey City, to run from
the Central Railroad of New Jersey terminal. The trestles
are to be such as are used on the New-York elevated roads. No
locomotives will be employed. The cars will be operated by
cables such as are now used by the elevated road running from Hoboken
to the West Hoboken Heights.98 Harvey was one
of the incorporators of the Central Elevated Transit Company in June
1889.99 The cars would move on an elevated
railroad that, it is said, will not darken the streets, and right of
way has been secured except on a little section of Jewett-avenue
… It is expected that the road will rapidly build up one of
the most beautiful of the residence sections in
New-Jersey.100 In November it was reported
that Harvey has the contract to construct the road, for which
the bonds and stock are to be delivered to
him.101

At a hearing before the Board of Aldermen of Jersey City, the road
was described as two and a half miles, running from the Central of New
Jersey ferry to West Side Ave, along Johnston Ave to Grand St, across
private property to reach Jewett Ave west of Summit Ave, and then along
Jewett Ave. The structure was to be iron or steel with columns just
inside the curb line, and the cars to be operated by cable. Harvey was
called the contractor, but he was no longer listed as a director, his son
Richard filling that role. There were objections about the use of public
streets.102 The Board of Aldermen
passed an ordinance permitting the road, and the mayor signed
it.103 Then no more was heard. The railway was
never built.

For a few years Harvey returned to the north of Michigan where he had
worked before he came to New York. In 1895, he was made the
acting chief engineer of the Sault Ste Marie and Hudson’s Bay
Railroad Company in Canada and in 1897 the manager and chief engineer
of the Hudson’s Bay and Yukon Railway and Navigation
Company.96

Harvey died in New York on March 11, 1912, age 83.104

The Story lawsuit

Back in 1877 Rufus Story was one of the property owners who sued to
stop the New York Elevated Railroad from constructing the Third Ave
El. He owned property in Front St. The Court of Common
Pleas dismissed his suit in November 1877.

Story and his lawyer John E Parsons, who argued many of the cases for
property owners, appealed the judgement at the Court of Appeals in May
1881. After a long wait the court on October 17, 1882 ordered a
new trial on the merits. This decision is one of the most
important ever handed down from a court in this State, reported
the Times, practically declaring, as it does, that the
owners of property along which the elevated railroads run have a right
to recover damages where their property has been injured in value by
the construction of the road.105

‘It means simply this,’ said John E Parsons, one of
the attorneys of Mr Story, ‘that when it can be shown that
private property has been made to suffer by the building of the
elevated roads the owners of that property may sue for damages and
recover them. Of course, the amount to be recovered will depend
altogether upon the estimate which a jury may place on the damage
done. Some of the property along the line of the elevated roads
has undoubtedly been greatly benefited by their construction.
Other property, like that in West Third-street and Fifty-third-street,
has just as certainly been injured, and this decision sets at rest
forever the question of the right of the owners of that property to
recover what a jury may consider equitable damages. Mr
Story’s suit, which it has taken over five years to decide,
presented to the courts a question which had never before arisen, the
question of the liability of the elevated roads to compensate the
owners of property along their lines.’105

The ruling was very bad news for the elevated companies. Story
maintained that Front St was not owned by the city but was an easement
with the property owners owning the land out to the center of the
street. But the case argued that even when the city did own a
street, an abutting property owner had the absolute right to
protect the street in front of him for ordinary street
uses. Parsons argued for Story that his right to
light and air, and freedom of access, and his exemption from
annoyance, is property, and it can only be taken from him by legal
process and for just compensation.105

New York Elevated immediately started proceedings to condemn the land
occupied by the elevated railway in front of Story’s buildings,
the same procedure any railway used to take property for a right of
way when a sale could not be agreed upon. The Supreme Court
would appoint commissioners to determine the value of the
property.106

After many and troublous sessions they decided that Mr Story was
entitled to $15,000, that being the measure of the diminution of the
value of his premises by the various causes of injury proceeding from
the elevated railroad structure, trains, &c. Their report
was objected to by the railroad company’s lawyers on the ground
that they were bound to assess separately the damages resulting from
each cause of injury, and to limit those causes to the deprivation of
light and air and the lessening of the ease of access to the
premises. The commissioners refused to make such a fine
division, and the case went back to the Supreme Court, where Parsons
argued to start it over again in the Court of Common Pleas. This
would risk an injunction stopping operation of the railway all over
again, and finally in 1885, New York Elevated paid Story the
$15,000.107

Story died in 1887, noted as the man who so long was a spice
merchant on Front-street and first successfully fought the elevated
roads.108 His legacy continued. Four
hundred suits by property owners were still pending in
1898.109 This was part of the cost of elevated
railway construction, the part that was never calculated in comparison
to underground roads.

The Manhattan Railway and the Interborough Rapid Transit

Manhattan Railway operated the elevated railway system in Manhattan
and the Bronx until 1903, when the property was leased to the
Interborough Rapid Transit Company, the company formed to operate the
city subway that opened in 1904.21 The
Manhattan Railway Company owned the elevated railways until the City of
New York purchased them in 1940, and following that the company was
dissolved.65

The subway took center stage as soon as it opened in 1904. It was
modern. It had four tracks for express and local service, as recommended
by the Senate Commission of 1866. In design it was not far from the
Arcade Railway plan. It had all the virtues of underground railways as
promoted by Alfred E Beach and others of his day, and electricity solved
the nagging problem of motive power.

City and state authorities from that day to this have promoted the
year 1904 as the start of rapid transit in New York. It was not, of
course. The elevated system was the proving ground for many ideas and
the results were applied to the design of subways. But not all the
lessons were learned: to save money the city built the farther reaches of
the new system as ‘elevated subway’ lines that would repeat
history by bringing noise and darkness to the streets of the outer
boroughs once buildings lined the once-open streets.